Review: “Old Abe, Eagle Hero”

30082010

Old Abe, Eagle Hero: The Civil War’s Most Famous Mascot is a children’s picture book written by Patrick Young and illustrated by Anne Lee. In terms easy enough for very young readers to understand, the book relates the familiar story of the mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Infantry regiment, a North American bald eagle named for POTUS 16. Since the story is familiar to Civil War buffs, I won’t go into too many details (but you can get some hereandhere). In fact, the story is so familiar that this same text was used in this earlier edition, with a different illustrator. And that different illustrator in this case makes a big difference. The watercolors in this new edition are striking.

So, this being a kid’s book, I asked a kid – my 12-year-old son – to read it, even though it’s a few years too young for him. But 12-year-olds being what they are, I couldn’t get him to sit down and type up a review. The long and the short of it is like me he dug the book. It took him all of about 5 minutes to read, but he got the gist of Old Abe’s story. However, he had the same question I had: after a concise account of Old Abe’s life from his birth through the end of the war, his story ends abruptly in 1876, when he travelled to Philadelphia for the centennial exhibition. What happened to Old Abe? When and how did he die?

A little digging on the web turned up the info, though I’m still not sure if the bird was a he or a she. In 1881, Old Abe died as a result of a fire near his rooms in the basement of the Wisconsin state Capitol. After his death he was stuffed and put on display in a glass case in the building, where he stayed until he and the building were destroyed in another fire in 1904. Below are a few pictures of Old Abe: with his fellow soldiers before reaching maturity, when his head turned white; a couple of publicity photos (he used to “autograph” them by poking a hole with his beak); and what is possibly all that remains of him, a single feather. All photos from this site.

Thanks for posting about ‘Old Abe’. He (or She) is one of my favorite stories of the American Civil War. I love the stories about ‘Old Abe’ breaking from his perch and then the men would think ‘Abe’ was gone forever and the he would somehow find them in camp after it was all over.

I believe ‘Abe’ killed another eagle mascot of a Wisconsin regiment when they were sharing quarters at the statehouse. ‘Abe’ really was a tough old bird.

When I see a demonstration of a eagle or see one flying in the sky I usually of ‘Old Abe’.

It would be neat if someone could do a unit history of the 8th Wisconsin and have a lot of verifiable information on ‘Abe’ tied into the story.

Re: Chris Evans comment on a history of the 8th Wisconsin and Old Abe.
The best book I know of is Old Abe the War Eagle by Richard H. Zeitlin, Ph.D., the late director of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum (Wisconsin Historical Society, 1986), which the Society is selling, I believe, for $9.95.
Zeitlin originally reserched the story of Old Abe and the 8th Wisconsin for his history Ph.D. at the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison. He later turned it into a book. It is a readable tale and thoroughly documented. The book’s biggest flaw, from my standpoint, is that it lacks an index.

Dulce bellum inexpertis

“I am sending you these little incidents as I hear them well authenticated. They form, to the friends of the parties, part of the history of the glorious 21st. More anon.”

About

Hello! I’m Harry Smeltzer and welcome to Bull Runnings, where you'll find my digital history project on the First Battle of Bull Run which is organized under the Bull Run Resources section. I'll also post my thoughts on the processes behind the project and commentary on the campaign, but pretty much all things Civil War are fair game. You'll only find musings on my “real job” or my personal life when they relate to this project. My mother always told me "never discuss politics or religion in mixed company”, and that's sound advice where current events are concerned.

The Project

This site is more than a blog. Bull Runnings also hosts digitized material pertaining to First Bull Run. In the Bull Run Resources link in the masthead and also listed below are links to Orders of Battle, After Action Reports, Official Correspondence, Biographical Sketches, Diaries, Letters, Memoirs, Newspaper Accounts and much, much more. Take some time to surf through the material. This is a work in process with no end in sight, so check back often!